


I'm Not Who You Think I Am

by anamiii



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crimes & Criminals, F/F, F/M, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:28:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anamiii/pseuds/anamiii
Summary: Regina finds herself needing to get far far away from home and doesn't want to be found. With the help of a few friends she is able to take on a new identity and go off to the other side of the country. Everything is going great until an old love of the woman whose identity she took on runs into her and mistakes her for the real Roni.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning to post this until I finished one of the current WIPs I have up, but since it's update week and this has been sitting in my google docs for months here you go :) No idea where this is going. It's going somewhere. No rating yet but there will be smut, fair warning.
> 
> Thanks Jess for the quick beta!

Chapter 1

She walks into the coffee shop like any other morning, orders her usual - an Americano with hazelnut syrup and cream - adding in a chocolate croissant as a treat for herself, she goes over and sits at a table to wait for her breakfast. 

She stares at her phone as she scrolls through the phone numbers she has saved hovering over a familiar number. She wants to call but she doesn’t. She can’t. She made that decision a long time ago. Most days she doesn’t mind, but today is different. Today is her dad’s birthday. 

This is the one day out of the year she questions if she made the right call that cold, rainy day. She wants to give him a call, let him know she’s still alive and doing okay, to not worry about her but if she calls he will have a reason to worry. He can’t know. If he knew, others would find out and the consequences outweigh the pros of calling her dad and wishing him a happy birthday. 

She’s lost in her train of thought as the door opens to more customers filing in. She feels a chill from the door and looks up to see a gentleman walk over to the line. He’s giving his order and smiling at the barista, she notices the dimples and smiles a little. He’s cute and she should get back out there. Her roommate, who is the closest thing she has to a best friend since her move certainly thinks she needs to. 

She doesn’t have time to dwell on that train of thought for long.

“Roni,” she hears the barista call out, signalling that her order is ready. She gets up walking over to the bar smiling at the young girl who hands her her coffee and croissant, warmed just right, and is about to walk out when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“Roni?” she turns to see it’s the mystery man she was staring at. “Veronica Miller?”

“Uhm, do I know you?” she replies.

He chuckles rolling his eyes, “Ron, it’s me Robin. Did you really forget or are you still mad at the way we left things?”

She furrows her brows a little as her heart starts to pump. She laughs, trying not to let her nerves show, “I..uhm…”

“I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again, but I suppose that’s my own fault for never actually staying in touch. It’s good to see you though.” He smiles at her, she can feel her stomach do flip flops. He’s gorgeous but she needs to get out of this situation now.

“Yeah, likewise,” she mutters, “I actually am running late, so I gotta…”

“Well what’s your number?” he interrupts pulling out his phone and fiddling with his contacts typing her name and turning his phone towards her. “Here just put it in, I’ll call you later. Maybe we can get a drink?”

“Uhm..” she’s startled and doesn’t know what to do. Her hands are filled and he instantly helps her out trading her coffee cup with the phone. She’s in a panic as she types in her number and hands it back, taking her coffee and sprinting out. 

When she’s far enough away from the coffee shop she stops at a bench and sits down placing her head in her hands,  _ Fuck Regina, what were you thinking giving him your number. He knows her. He knows Roni. Roni who is very much not you and hopefully isn’t on to you yet. The whole point of getting far far away was to prevent this. How did you end up somewhere she lived and running into an old friend?! You’re so fucked!  _ She scolds herself. 

Regina takes a few breaths before lifting her head and shaking off the thought. She can’t let this get to her, she has a job to get to, and she will deal with this later. What are the chances of her running into this man again in the near future? 

Later that night as Regina gets back to her apartment, unlocking the door she drops her stuff on the counter and makes her way into the kitchen to see her blonde roommate cooking. 

“Hey,” Regina says opening the fridge door and pulling out a beer. “What are you cooking?”

“Spaghetti bolognese,” her roommate responds, “What’s up? You look stressed.”

Regina groans, “I met someone and it might ruin everything,” she mutters twisting off her beer cap and taking a sip.

“You met someone?”

“A guy.” 

“Oh honey,” her roommate strokes Regina’s cheek, “if you think it’s going to ruin this I told you we weren’t exclusive you can date whoever you want,” she winks at her.

Regina rolls her eyes, “That’s not what I meant, Mal.” She leaned back against the counter shutting her eyes, “My situation…”

“Roni, what are you talking about?” 

“He knows Roni.” Regina exasperates.

“Someone from your past?” Mal asks.

“No, not me.” Regina groans, “Roni. The real Roni. He knows her. It sounded like they may have been a thing at some point,” she rambles.

“The real…” Mal starts when suddenly realization dawns on her, “Oh.”

“I’m so screwed.” 

“Not necessarily,” Mal stirs the contents of the pot before reaching for a couple of plates, “What are the chances of you actually seeing this person again?”

“Considering I gave him my phone number…”

“You did what?!” Mal turns towards her friend. “Ron, what were you thinking?”

Regina covers her face with her hands, “I wasn’t. I panicked.”

“Okay, okay.” Mal says thinking, “That’s fine, it still won’t be that bad. You can always blow him off.”

“Right, yeah okay,” she sighs. 

“It’ll be okay,” Mal wraps an arm around her.

Regina looks up into her blue eyes, “What if it isn’t? What if he figures it out, tells the cops. Mal there was a reason why I needed a new identity and couldn’t get one the legal way.”

“I know,” Mal plays with one of Regina’s curls, “You’ve done everything to keep out of the limelight, there is no way anyone is going to figure this out. Just blow off this guy. Seattle is big, what are the chances of him actually running into you again?”

Regina takes a deep breath, “you’re right. I’m going to go get ready for work, pubs not going to open itself. Are you coming with?”

“Nah, I’ve got some errands, Ruby said she could cover. I’ll be there before happy hour.”

“Okay,” she leans up on her tiptoes to peck the blondes lips, “that spaghetti smells amazing, I’ve taught you well,” she teased as she walked out of the kitchen and back to her room. 

.::.

_ 4 years ago... _

_ Regina was living on the east coast in an environment she knew she needed to get out of. Her father had passed away a year ago and he had been the only one to offer some sort of buffer between Regina and her mother. Their relationship had always been rocky but the moment she found out that her ex-boyfriend’s car crash may not have been a total accident -- instead, something orchestrated by her mother to get Regina with someone of ‘value’, Regina had packed a bag and left Maine. _

_ A few hours later she found herself crashing on a friend’s couch in Boston, Massachusetts.  _

_ She sat down on the couch fiddling with her phone, she could call her sister but that was the first place her mother would look. No Zelena had to stay oblivious, for now anyway. She was brought out of her trance when a bowl of mac and cheese was hovering in front of her. _

_ “Eat,” she heard and looked up at a blonde with a determined look. _

_ “I’m not hungry, Emma,” Regina replied. _

_ “I told you she wouldn’t that,” a male’s voice carried out into the living room from the kitchen. “Regina actually eats real food.” _

_ Emma rolled her eyes, “shut up, Neal. This is real food.” She sat down next to Regina and lifted the spoon, “don’t make me have to pretend this is an airplane.” _

_ “I’ll eat later, I can’t really stomach anything right now,” Regina replied scrunching her nose, “especially powdered cheese.” _

_ “More for me,” Emma shrugged leaning back against the couch as Neal walked out and sat on the other end next to Regina. _

_ “Don’t worry, I still buy the groceries so there’s plenty of options in the fridge,” he winked at Regina causing her to laugh. The first real laugh she had had in a while.  _

_ She glanced between them, “Thanks for letting me stay here.” _

_ “Anytime, you’re family.”  _

_ “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want, but what are you going to do about Cora?” Emma asked. _

_ Regina shook her head, “I don’t know. I can’t stay here too long though, she’ll look here after Zelena’s place. I need to get away. She had Daniel killed, who knows what she’ll do to me if I don’t go along with her ‘plans’.” _

_ “She wouldn’t do anything like that though, you’re her daughter,” Neal said. _

_ “This is the same woman who tried to have Zelena arrested. She only backed down because Z’s boyfriend is pretty good at digging things up and found a way to keep her quiet. I still don’t know what that was.” _

_ “Why don’t you see if he can help you out too?” Emma asked. _

_ “I don’t need blackmail,” Regina replied fiddling with the ring on her finger, “I need to get away. Start over, as someone else. Greg can’t help with that, but…” she looked at her friends, “You two can.” _

_ Neal furrowed her brows, “Are you saying you want a new identity?” _

_ Regina nodded, “I know it’s a lot to ask…” _

_ “Don’t be ridiculous, of course we’ll help,” Emma cut in.  _

Present day…

Regina changed into a band tee and jeans. She grabbed her favorite leather jacket and headed out to Mal’s pub to get it open. Mal was right, she just had to blow off this guy and she wouldn’t have to see him again. Simple as that. 

Or so she thought.

A few hours into the lunch rush, she saw the one person walk into the pub that she had been hoping to never see again… Robin. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some of you noticed, I screwed up...as with all messes in life, just going to yell plot twist at that whole dad's alive no dad's dead thing that happened in chapter 1 and figure it out. Stay tuned!   
> Here's the next installment in the saga :) enjoy.
> 
> Thank you Nan for the beta!

Chapter 2

Regina stands frozen staring at the one person she had been hoping would never cross her path again. The one person who made her whole life ten times more complicated and had no idea he was doing such a thing. She shook herself from the trance she was in and quickly turned her back to the door to avoid any sort of eye contact with him. Maybe he wouldn’t see her and would just go sit somewhere far away from the bar.

No such luck. He locked eyes with her the moment he looked over.

Regina inwardly cringed as he walked over to the bar. Robin smiled at her, “Two times in one day, must be my lucky day.” He sat on one of the barstools. “Career change?”

“Um, yeah. Sorta. Needed a new headspace,” Regina replied trying to keep things cool and not freak out in the process. 

“The Dragon’s Lair is certainly a change from corporate law,” Robin gipped. 

_ She’s a lawyer?! Crap I’m even more screwed than I thought I was, _ Regina thought to herself as she laughed softly, “Yeah law got a little boring, being back here reminds me of my law school days.” 

“You bartended in law school?” 

“Uhm, yeah. Needed pocket change, tips were good.” Truth was she had no idea what Roni did in law school, Regina however, did in fact bartend through school and knew a thing or two about it. 

“Ah,” Robin nodded, “You were always the overachiever. How’s life been, Roni? You look good.”

Regina bit her lip as she got lost in his baby blues and soothing accent, “It’s been, interesting.” 

“Interesting enough to share over dinner sometime?” Robin asked.

“Uhm, I don’t know…” Regina started.

Robin held up his hands, “Not a date, Ron, just dinner. Between friends. I hope you still consider me a friend, even though it has been over a decade.” 

Regina smiled a little, he was sweet, and if the circumstances were any different she would be totally be saying yes right now. But she couldn’t, could she? Ugh, why was her life so complicated. What she wouldn’t give to have a somewhat normal life right about now. She opened her mouth to respond, but luckily for her, another patron had called her over for a refill so she excused herself and made her way over to the other end of the bar. She took more time than really necessary and by the time she turned around Ruby was already taking care of Robin’s drink. 

Regina slipped into the back room and pulled out her phone. She scrolled down her contact list and hit dial.

“Roni?” 

“Mal, come down here. Please.” Regina more or less whispered into the phone.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” she heard over the phone.

Regina sighed, “He’s here. Of all the places, he’s here. Mal, please. I can’t… I need you here.” 

“Okay, okay. I’m coming.”

“Thank you,” Regina replied, ending the call. 

Mal was the one person that knew her story, her whole story. Every last dirty secret, she knew. And she didn’t care. She promised to keep her safe. Gave her a place to work, a place to live. She had stayed true to her word since day one. 

.::.

_ 4 years ago… _

_ Regina had made her way out to Seattle with a backpack of her essentials and an envelope with as much money as she could withdraw without raising eyebrows. She had stayed with Emma and Neal for a week while they worked to find her a new identity and get all the paperwork she needed.  _

_ She knew she had to keep a low profile. No bank accounts. No credit cards. Do everything in cash. The fewer people that knew her the better.  _

_ She never thought she would ever be in the position that she was currently in but here she was in it.  _

_ Emma and Neal had done their thing. She was now Roni Miller and she had a one-way ticket, bought by her friends, to Seattle. What she would do there? Where she would live? She hadn’t the faintest of clues, all she knew was she was heading out later that day.  _

_ Several hours later she found herself walking the streets of Hyperion Heights, a new up and coming neighborhood in Seattle, with no plan at all. That’s when she walked by The Dragon’s Lair. A little pub that seemed to have a nice vibe and a nice selection of booze to keep her mind off of the uncertain.  _

_ It was a Tuesday night so there weren’t too many people there. Just a handful scattered around. She walked over to the bar and sat on one of the stools, placing her backpack by her feet as she looked around.  _

_ The blonde barkeep had taken notice of the new resident in their tiny neighborhood and watched her for a moment before walking over to her.  _

_ “Hi, I’m Mal. What can I get you?”  _

_ “Oh,” Regina replied startled slightly, “A margarita.” _

_ “Sure,” Mal replied as she pulled the tequila from the shelf to start mixing Regina’s drink, “New in town?” _

_ Regina nodded, “Yeah.” _

_ “Work or pleasure?” she asked, sensing some sort of tension coming off her new customer. _

_ Regina frowned slightly, did people always make small talk like this or did this woman know something. “I.. I don’t know. Both I guess.” _

_ Mal nodded as she slid the margarita to her, “Welcome to Seattle, I hope it’s everything that you ever thought it would be.” _

_ “Thanks,” Regina replied as she watched her walk away. She was a peculiar one. Regina had gone out and found a cheap hostel to stay in for a couple of nights with a private room. It was a fine temporary fix but she needed something more stable.  _

_ A few days later she was walking around carrying all her things with her, she wouldn’t leave them at the hostel on the off chance anything gave her away. She walked over to the same pub that she had visited when she first got to town and found herself face to face with the same bartender.  _

_ “Welcome back,” Mal said with a smile. “Hungry?” _

_ Regina nodded, “Yeah, can I just take a booth?”  _

_ “Go ahead sweetheart, I’ll bring over the menu.” _

_ Regina slipped into a corner booth and looked around, this was a cozy place. A little dark for her taste but still inviting. She smiled at the blonde woman as she placed the menu and a glass of water in front of her.  _

_ “How are you liking Seattle?” she asked her. _

_ “It’s alright, I haven’t really seen it much,” Regina replied not knowing why she felt the need to give her any details but she seemed harmless. And the truth was, Regina was getting lonely and having someone to talk to might make it a little easier.  _

_ “Ah well, if you’re interested I can give you the locals tour,” Mal replied before her phone buzzed, “Son of a bitch,” she muttered.  _

_ Regina frowned slightly, “Everything okay?”  _

_ “Yeah, sorry about the language,” Mal responded, “One of my waiters has a tendency to not show up for shifts. I told him I need someone reliable and he still just calls out minutes before his shift.”  _

_ “Oh, I’m sorry,” Regina replied. “I used to bartend in college, did a bit of waitressing too if you need the help.” She shouldn’t be doing this but she could use a little money and a job wouldn’t hurt to keep her occupied for a bit.  _

_ “Really?” Mal raised a brow, “I mean that would be a huge help.” _

_ “Yeah, absolutely.” _

_ “Alright, let me know what you want to eat and then you can start after lunch, uhm… I didn’t catch your name.” _

_ “Re..Roni. Veronica but I go by Roni.” _

_ “Roni,” Mal repeated, “let me know whenever you are ready to order.” _

_ “Sure.”  _

_ Regina had gone in a couple of days before Mal had offered her a proper position. It was something she could do and she had a somewhat friend to talk to when she was there. For a little while she almost forgot the situation she was in to begin with. Until Mal handed her a check at the end of the week. Her paycheck.  _

_ She couldn’t cash that. She could. But some alarm might go off signaling something, it was better not to. But she needed to. She was running low on cash, paying a daily rate at the hostel was starting to add up. She held the check in her hands debating what would be worse when Mal walked over to her after having closed up for the night.  _

_ “I would give you more if I could but they are starting to get pretty picky with all the licenses and stuff around here,” she said as she wiped down the bar.  _

_ Regina shook her head, “No, no. This is more than I could have asked for.” _

_ Mal nodded slightly, narrowing her eyes, “What’s wrong?” _

_ Regina looked up at her, the fear and disturbance clearly showing in her eyes, “Nothing you need to worry about.”  _

_ “Roni,” Mal said softly, “I want to help, even if it’s just listening. It looks like you could use a friend.” _

_ Regina contemplated for a moment, but she was right, she needed a friend. “I just, any chance, you can give me this in cash instead?”  _

_ “Cash? Sure, but you know there are banks that do that around here,” she teased slightly.  _

_ Regina laughed softly, not a true laugh, one of her polite ones. Something the woman standing in front of her had picked up on over the last couple weeks.  _

_ “Unless there’s another reason you can’t cash this yourself.” _

_ Regina looked up into her blue eyes while trying to keep her own neutral and not let the tears that were clearly starting to pool fall, “I..shouldn’t have asked.” _

_ “Hey,” Mal reached out and held her hand, “I’m not judging, and you don’t have to say a word if you don’t want to.” She reached into the cash register and pulled out the amount on Regina’s check and handed it over to her. “Here, I’ll refill the register in the morning.” _

_ Regina gave her back the check and took the cash, “Thank you.” _

_ “If you ever do want to talk I’m here.” _

_ Regina nodded and repeated, “Thank you.” She picked up her backpack, the same one containing everything she had with her and started to head out before turning towards the bar, “I really do appreciate it.” _

.::.

Present day…

Mal had walked into the pub and headed to the back where she found Regina. “Alright, where is he? I’ll send him on his way.”

Regina shook her head, “That’ll cause a scene. He hasn’t done anything.”

“Okay,” Mal said slowly, “Then what do you want me to do?”

“Just be the reason why I can’t say yes to having dinner with him, he seems a little bit persistent and if this were any other situation…”

“You would say yes,” Mal finished for her. “I’ll be your buffer, if that’s what you want. Granted if you did want to take him for a spin, you know I’m the last to judge.”

“I don’t have the luxury of getting of what I want,” Regina muttered. 

Mal slipped a finger under her chin and tilted her head up, “You got me, he might be reasonable. You never know.”

“True, but I think right now I don’t want to take my chances.”

“Alright, it’s your call.”

Regina had walked out back to the bar and started taking some orders. She noticed Robin was still sitting there. She needed to just end this now. She took a deep breathe when she finished up with all three guys and walked over to Robin.

“Refill?” she asked.

“No,” he smiled, “You seem busy.”

“Yeah, happy hour,” she explained. 

“Ah yes,” he nodded, “So what nights are you free?”

“Uhm, well..” she started when she felt two arms wrap around her waist.

Mal leaned forward to kiss Regina’s cheek, “You smell amazing today, darling.”

Regina stumbled slightly,  _ okay this was what she was going to do. She should have known, Mal liked being dramatic _ . “Thank you, babe,” she added for emphasis as she turned to look into Mal’s eyes trying to read her and what she was actually going to do. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Mal started looking over at Robin.

Regina shook her head, “You’re never interrupting,” she played along.

Robin had been watching the two of them and smiled a little, “I shouldn’t be surprised you aren’t on the market any more, you were always the catch.” He looked into Regina’s eyes, “but I would still love to catch up with you and your new beau.”

“Who is this, Roni? Old friend?” Mal asked.

“Something like that,” Regina muttered loud enough for Robin to hear, playing it off as though she didn’t want to say they were an item. Her acting skills were far better than she thought they were. She would even believe herself if she wasn’t the wiser. 

“Robin Locksley, milady,” Robin said, “Roni and I knew each other back in high school.” 

Mal smiled a little, “Malina Draco, owner of this fancy establishment and this one’s heart,” she said motioning to Regina. 

Robin nodded taking the hint she was sending not so subtly, “Of course, I would love to sit down with both of you, hear how you met,” he turned his gaze to Regina, “See what you’ve been up to.”

“Uhm…” Regina started.

“She’ll call you,” Mal interrupted in a we are done here tone before ushering Regina to the back room.

“What was that?” Regina exclaimed.

Mal furrowed her brows, “I did what you asked.”

“You didn’t have to be rude.”

“Roni,  _ my love _ , if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had thing for Mr. Ruggedly Handsome out there.”

Regina stammered, “I don’t… what?.. No..” 

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure!”

“Whatever you say, dollface. Besides, now if you do want to go, I will  _ have _ to go with you and then I can make sure all is well and nothing happens,” Mal responded as she reached for her phone. 

Regina blow out a breathe, “I hate this.”

Mal looked at her sympathetically, “Are you positively sure you don’t want to see what this guy may have to offer? You seem smitten, I would hate for you to not try something because from the vibes I was getting he seems harmless.”

“They all do until they aren’t,” Regina replied peaking out to see Robin leaving the pub.

Mal rubbed her back softly before leaving her alone, knowing she didn’t need to talk right now. She just needed to think and be alone for a moment before putting her face back on and continuing on with her day. That’s all she could do. Take it day by day.  _ Until it all comes tumbling down _ she thought as she poured herself a shot of tequila to take the edge off. 


End file.
